Composing messages within a communication thread

ABSTRACT

One or more embodiments described herein include methods and systems of organizing a user interface of a communication system. More specifically, systems and methods described herein provide users the ability to easily and effectively compose an electronic communication directly in a communication thread, thus reducing user interface clutter. Additionally, systems and methods described herein selectively provide display elements within a messaging user interface according to the type of message a user is creating.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/985,456 filed Apr. 28, 2014. The entire contents ofthe foregoing application are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

One or more embodiments relate generally to electronic communicationsystems and methods. More specifically, one or more embodiments relateto systems and methods for increasing organization and functionality inan electronic communication system.

2. Background and Relevant Art

Computing devices (e.g., computers, tablets, and smart phones) providenumerous ways for people to connect and communicate with one another.For example, a variety of electronic communication systems providevarious methods to send and receive electronic messages. For instance, acomputing device can allow a user to communicate with other users usingtext messaging, instant messaging, social network posting, and otherforms of electronic communication. In addition, an electroniccommunication may include a variety of content including text, images,video, and/or other data. In general, electronic communication hasbecome a popular way for people to connect and communicate with oneanother.

Due to the wide variety of ways in which people can communicate usingelectronic communication systems, user interfaces associated withelectronic communication systems tend to become cluttered. For example,a communication user interface may include a keyboard and acommunication thread area, in addition to other display elements. Whendisplayed on a smaller screen (i.e., the touch screen display of ahandheld device), a user interface including various elements quicklybecomes cluttered.

Furthermore, as a user interface includes more elements, the viewableportion of the communication thread usually shrinks in order toaccommodate the additional elements. This is problematic because a usergenerally needs or desires to see the last several communications sentand received in order to understand the context of the communicationsession, as well as to remember where the communication session leftoff. Determining the context and content of a communication session istypically difficult if no more than a few lines of text are viewablewithin the communication thread.

Thus, there are several disadvantages to current methods of organizinguser interfaces of electronic communication systems.

SUMMARY

One or more embodiments provide benefits and/or solve one or more of theforegoing or other problems in the art with methods and systems thatprovide enhanced features and organization for electronic communicationsystems. For example, methods and systems described herein allow usersto easily and intuitively send and receive electronic communications.Furthermore, one or more embodiments can provide the foregoing or otherbenefits without cluttering a user interface of the electroniccommunication system.

For example, systems and methods of one or more embodiments allow a userto compose a message directly into a communication thread. By composingmessages directly a communication thread, one or more embodiments allowa user to view a greater portion of a communication thread. Thus, one ormore embodiments allow the user a greater opportunity to determine thecontext and content of a communication session.

Furthermore, systems and methods of one or more embodiments reduce userinterface clutter by selectively providing various display elements. Forexample, one or more embodiments provide certain display elements whenapplicable and remove other display elements when inapplicable. Forexample, one or more embodiments can remove a message input element andtouch screen display keyboard when a user is not composing a textualmessage. Thus, one or more embodiments reduce user interface clutter byselectively adding and removing various display elements.

Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the descriptionwhich follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or maybe learned by the practice of such exemplary embodiments. The featuresand advantages of such embodiments may be realized and obtained by meansof the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims. These and other features will become more fullyapparent from the following description and appended claims, or may belearned by the practice of such exemplary embodiments as set forthhereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above recited and otheradvantages and features can be obtained, a more particular descriptionof various embodiments briefly described above will be rendered byreference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in theappended drawings. It should be noted that the figures are not drawn toscale, and that elements of similar structure or function are generallyrepresented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposesthroughout the figures. Understanding that these drawings depict onlytypical embodiments and are not therefore to be considered to belimiting, these embodiments will be described and explained withadditional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a user interface organizationsystem in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary environment forimplementing the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments;

FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate user interfaces for composing electroniccommunications directly in a communication thread in accordance with oneor more embodiments;

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate additional user interfaces for composingelectronic communications directly in a communication thread inaccordance with one or more additional embodiments;

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate additional user interfaces for composingelectronic communications directly in a communication thread inaccordance with one or more additional embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in a method ofcomposing an electronic communication directly in a communication threadin accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in another method ofcomposing an electronic communication directly in a communication threadin accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device inaccordance with one or more embodiments; and

FIG. 9 is an example network environment of a social networking systemin accordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more embodiments include a user interface organization systemthat provides users with efficient and effective user experiences whencomposing electronic messages. In an exemplary embodiment, the userinterface organization system can enter user input as textual messagedirectly into a communication thread. For example, as a user beginstyping, the user interface organization system can add the user input toa message input element within the communication thread. Once the usersends the message, the user interface organization system can change theappearance of the message input element to signal that the message hasbeen sent. By allowing for composition of messages directly acommunication thread, the user interface organization system can allowthe user a greater opportunity to determine the context and content of acommunication session.

Furthermore, the user interface organization system can reduce userinterface clutter by selectively providing or removing various displayelements. For example, one or more embodiments provide certain displayelements when applicable and remove other display elements wheninapplicable. In particular, when the user begins entering a message,the user interface organization system can provide a message inputelement within the communication thread. Alternatively, thecommunication thread can include a message input element by default.Once the user indicates by one or more action that they are not going toenter a message, the user interface organization system can remove themessage input element from the communication thread.

Thus, one or more embodiments described herein allow users to easily andintuitively compose, send, and receive electronic communications. Inparticular, systems and methods described herein allow users to composeelectronic messages such that the viewable area of a communicationthread of an electronic communication session is maximized or otherwiseoptimized. For example, one or more embodiments allow a user a greateropportunity to determine the context and content of a communicationsession via a larger viewable area of the communication threadcontaining electronic messages.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a user interfaceorganization system 100 (or simply “UI organization system”). As shown,UI organization system 100 may include, but is not limited to, a userinterface manager 102 (or simply “UI manager”), a user input detector104, a communication manager 106, and a data storage 108. Each of thecomponents 102-108 of the UI organization system 100 may be incommunication with one another using any suitable communicationtechnologies. One will appreciate in light of the disclosure herein thatalthough the components 102-108 are shown to be separate in FIG. 1, anyof the components 102-108 may be combined into fewer components, such asinto a single facility or module, or divided into more components as mayserve a particular embodiment. In addition, the components 102-108 maybe located on, or implemented by, one or more computing devices, such asthose described below in relation to FIG. 8. Alternatively, portions ofthe UI organization system 100 can be located on a computing device,while other portions of the UI organization system 100 are located on,or form part of, a social networking system, such as that describedbelow in reference to FIG. 9.

The components 102-108 can comprise software, hardware, or both. Forexample, the components 102-108 can comprise one or more instructionsstored on a computer readable storage medium and executable by processorof one or more computing devices. When executed by the one or moreprocessors, the computer-executable instructions of the UI organizationsystem 100 can cause a computing device(s) to perform the methodsdescribed herein. Alternatively, the components 102-108 can comprisehardware, such as a special purpose processing device to perform acertain function or group of functions. Additionally or alternatively,the components 102-108 can comprise a combination of computer-executableinstructions and hardware.

As mentioned above, and as shown in FIG. 1, the UI organization system100 can include a user interface manager 102. The user interface manager102 provides, manages, updates, and/or controls graphical userinterfaces (or simply “user interfaces”) that allow a user to view andinteract with display elements. For example, the user interface manager102 may identify, display, update, or otherwise provide various userinterfaces that contain one or more display elements in various layouts.

More specifically, the user interface manager 102 can provide a varietyof display elements within a graphical user interface. For instance,example display elements include, but are not limited to: buttons, textboxes, menus, thumbnails, scroll bars, hyperlinks, etc. In one or moreembodiments, the user interface manager 102 can display and formatdisplay elements in any one or a variety of layouts.

Furthermore, the user interface manager 102 can also update, remove,resize, or reposition display elements in response to user interactions.For example, as will be described in more detail below, the UIorganization system 100 may detect user input in a variety of ways. Forinstance, in one or more embodiments, the detected user input may causethe user interface manager 102 to update a graphical user interfacebased on the detected input. Similarly, in one or more embodiments, thedetected user input may cause the user interface manager 102 to resizeone or more display elements, to reposition one or more display elementswithin the graphical user interface, or to otherwise change or removeone or more display elements within the graphical user interface.

Additionally, the user interface manager 102 can selectively updatecertain areas of a user interface in response to user interactions. Forexample, in one or more embodiments, detected user input may cause theuser interface manager 102 to update or change within one area of agraphical user interface. In a particular embodiment, upon a detecteduser interaction, the user interface manager 102 may update one areawithin a user interface from one type of display to a second type ofdisplay, while continuing to display another area within the userinterface with no updates.

As mentioned above, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the UI organizationsystem 100 may further include a user input detector 104. The user inputdetector 104 detects, receives, and/or facilitates user input in anysuitable manner. In some examples, the user input detector 104 detectsone or more user interactions. As referred to herein, a “userinteraction” means a single input, a combination of inputs, receivedfrom a user by way of one or more input devices, or via one or moretouch gestures as described above. A user interaction can have variableduration and may take place anywhere on the graphical user interfacemanaged by the user interface manager 102 described above.

For example, the user input detector 104 can detect a user interactionfrom a keyboard, mouse, touch screen display, or any other input device.In the event a touch screen display is utilized, the user input detector104 can detect one or more touch gestures that form a user interaction(e.g., tap gestures, swipe gestures, pinch gestures, etc.) provided by auser by way of the touch screen. In some examples, the user inputdetector 104 can detect touch gestures in relation to and/or directed atone or more display elements displayed as part of the graphical userinterface presented on the touch screen display.

The user input detector 104 may additionally, or alternatively, receivedata representative of a user interaction. For example, the user inputdetector 104 may receive one or more user configurable parameters from auser, one or more user commands from the user, and/or any other suitableuser input. For example, the user input detector 104 can receive voicecommands or otherwise sense, detect, or receive user input.

As mentioned above, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the UI organizationsystem 100 may further include a communication manager 106. Thecommunication manager 106 can facilitate receiving and sending data toand from the UI organization system 100, or a device upon which the UIorganization system 100 is implemented. In particular, the communicationmanager 106 can instruct or activate one or more communicationinterfaces of a computing device, as described below to send or receivedata. Furthermore, the communication manager 106 can package or formatcontent items to be sent or received from the UI organization system 100in any necessary form that is able to be sent through one or morecommunication channels and using an appropriate communication protocol,as described further below with reference to FIG. 8.

As discussed above, the UI organization system 100 can include a datastorage 108, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The data storage 108 may maintainUI organization data 110 representative of data associated how the userinterface manager 102 organizes a user interface. For example, the UIorganization data 110 can include current and previous user interfaceorganization, user interface layouts, display element placement andconfiguration, and other similar type data that the UI organizationsystem 100 may use in connection with organizing user interfaces of acommunication system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example a system 200,within which one or more embodiments of the UI organization system 100can be implemented. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the system 200 can includecomputing devices 202, 204, a network 206, and a communication server208. The computing devices 202, 204, the network 206, and thecommunication server 208 may be communicatively coupled, as shown inFIG. 2. Although FIG. 2 illustrates a particular arrangement of thecomputing devices 202, 204, the network 206, and the communicationserver 208, various additional arrangements are possible. For example,the computing devices 202, 204 may directly communicate with thecommunication server 208, bypassing the network 206, or alternatively,may directly communicate with each other.

The computing devices 202, 204, the network 206, and the communicationserver 208 may communicate using any communication platforms andtechnologies suitable for transporting data and/or communicationsignals. For example, the computing devices 202, 204, the network 206,and the communication server 208 may communicate via any knowncommunication technologies, devices, media, and protocols supportive ofremote data communications, examples of which will be described in moredetail below with respect to FIG. 8. In addition, in certainembodiments, the computing devices 202, 204, and the communicationserver 208 may communicate via the network 206, which may include one ormore social networks as described further below with respect to FIG. 9.

The communication server 208 may generate, store, receive, and transmitelectronic communication data. For example, the communication server 208may receive an electronic communication from the computing device 202and send the received electronic communication to the computing device204. In particular, the communication server 208 can transmit electronicmessages between one or more users of the system 200. The communicationserver 208 can receive a wide range of electronic communication types,including but not limited to, text messages, instant messages,social-networking messages, social-networking posts, emails, and anyother form of electronic communication. Additional details regarding thecommunication server 208 will be discussed below with respect to FIG. 9.

The network 206 may represent a network or collection of networks (suchas the Internet, a corporate intranet, a virtual private network (VPN),a local area network (LAN), a wireless local network (WLAN), a cellularnetwork, a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN),or a combination of two or more such networks. Thus, the network 206 maybe any suitable network over which the computing device 202 may accessthe communication server 208 and/or the computing device 204, or viceversa. The network 206 will be discussed in more detail below withregard to FIGS. 8 and 9.

In addition to the system and network elements of the system 200, FIG. 2illustrates that a user 210 can be associated with the computing device202, and that a user 212 can be associated with the computing device204. Although FIG. 2 illustrates two users 210, 212, the system 200 caninclude a large number of users, with each of the users interacting withthe system 200 through a corresponding number of computing devices. Forexample, the user 210 can interact with the computing device 202 for thepurpose of composing, via the user input detector 104, and sending, viathe communication manager 106, an electronic communication. The user 210may interact with the computing device 202 by way of a user interface,managed by the user interface manager 102, on the computing device 202.For example, the user 210 can utilize the user interface to cause thecomputing device 202 to compose and send an electronic communication toone or more of the plurality of users of the system 200.

In one or more embodiments, the components 102-108, as described withregard to FIG. 1, may be implemented on one or more of the computingdevices 202, 204 and the communication server 208. For example, thecomputing devices 202, 204, and the communication server 208 maycommunicate across the network 206 via the communication manager 106 ofthe UI organization system 100. In one or more embodiments, thecomputing devices 202, 204 may receive user inputs via the user inputdetector 104. Likewise, in one or more embodiments, the computingdevices 202, 204 may provide graphical user interfaces via the userinterface manager 102.

As will be described in more detail below, each of the components100-108 of the UI organization system 100 as described with regard toFIGS. 1 and 2, can provide, alone and/or in combination with the othercomponents of the UI organization system 100, one or more graphical userinterfaces. In particular, the components 102-108 can allow a user tointeract with a collection of display elements for a variety ofpurposes. In particular, FIGS. 3A-4E and the description that followsillustrate various example embodiments of the user interfaces andfeatures that are in accordance with general principles as describedabove.

In some examples, a computing device (i.e., computing device 202, 204 ofFIG. 2) can implement part or all of the UI organization system 100. Forexample, FIG. 3A illustrates a computing device 300 that may implementone or more the components 102-108 of the UI organization system 100. Asillustrated in FIG. 3A, the computing device 300 is a handheld device,such as a mobile phone device (e.g., a smartphone). As used herein, theterm “handheld device” refers to a device sized and configured to beheld/operated in a single hand of a user. In additional or alternativeexamples, however, any other suitable computing device, such as, but notlimited to, a tablet device, a handheld device, larger wireless devices,a laptop or desktop computer, a personal-digital assistant device,and/or any other suitable computing device can perform one or more ofthe processes and/or operations described herein.

The computing device 300 can include any of the features and componentsdescribed below in reference to a computing device 800 of FIG. 8. Asillustrated in FIG. 3A, the computing device 300 includes a touch screendisplay 301 that can display or provide user interfaces and by way ofwhich user input may be received and/or detected. As used herein, a“touch screen display” refers to the display of a touch screen device.In one or more embodiments, a touch screen device may be the computingdevice 202, 204 with at least one surface upon which a user 210, 212 mayperform touch gestures (e.g., a laptop, a tablet computer, a personaldigital assistant, a media player, a mobile phone). Additionally oralternatively, the computing device 300 may include any other suitableinput device, such as a touch pad or those described below in referenceto FIG. 8.

FIG. 3A illustrates a touch screen display 301 of the computing device300 displaying one embodiment of a graphical user interface, inparticular a messaging graphical user interface 302. For example, theuser interface manager 102 provides various display areas and displayelements as part of the messaging graphical user interface 302. In oneor more embodiments, the user interface manager 102 provides acommunication thread 304, as well as a message input control palette310.

As described above, the communication manager 106 of the UI organizationsystem 100 can facilitate receiving and sending data. In one or moreembodiments, the communication manager 106 facilitates receiving andsending electronic communications between the computing devices 202,204. Also in one or more embodiments, the user interface manager 102displays electronic communications sent and received via thecommunication manager 106. In a particular embodiment, the userinterface manager 102 can display electronic communications sent andreceived via the communication manager 106 in the communication thread304 within the messaging graphical user interface 302.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102provides the communication thread 304 that includes electroniccommunications 306 a, 306 b sent and received by the communicationmanager 106. In one or more embodiments, the user interface manager 102organizes the communication thread 304 such that newest messages areadded to the bottom of the thread with oldest messages displayed at thetop of the thread. In alternative embodiments, the user interfacemanager 102 may be organized in any manner that may indicate to a userthe chronological relationship between the displayed messages. As shown,the electronic communications 306 a are messages sent by thecommunication manager 106, and the electronic communications 306 b aremessages received by the communication manager 106. In one or moreembodiments, the electronic communications 306 a are composed by a useron the computing device 300 and sent to one or more co-users by thecommunication manager 106, while the communication manager 106 receivesthe electronic communications 306 b at the computing device 300 from theone or more co-users.

The user interface manager 102 provides a variety of electroniccommunication characteristics to help a user distinguish betweenelectronic communications displayed in the communication thread 304. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102displays the electronic communications 306 a sent from the communicationmanager 106 pointed toward one side of the messaging graphical userinterface 302. On the other hand, the user interface manager 102displays the electronic communications 306 b received by thecommunication manager 106 pointed toward the opposite side of themessaging graphical user interface 302. In one or more embodiments, thispositioning and orientation of the electronic communications 306 a, 306b provides a clear indicator to a user of the computing device 300 ofthe origin of the various electronic communications displayed within themessaging graphical user interface 302.

Another electronic communication characteristic provided by the userinterface manager 102 that helps a user distinguish electroniccommunications may be a color of the electronic communication. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102 displaysthe electronic communications 306 a sent by the communication manager106 in a first color, and displays the electronic communications 306 breceived by the communication manager 106 in a second color. In one ormore embodiments, the first and second colors may be black and white,respectively, with an inverted typeface color, or may be any othercolor. In an alternative embodiment, the user interface manager 102 maydisplay the electronic communications 306 a, 306 b with whitebackgrounds and different colored outlines.

In yet another alternative embodiment, the user interface manager 102may display the electronic communications 306 a, 306 b with backgroundsof different patterns, in different fonts, in different sizes or in anyother manner that may distinguish the electronic communications 306 afrom the electronic communications 306 b. For example, in a particularembodiment, the user interface manager 102 displays electroniccommunications 306 a with white typeface on a blue background. Likewise,in a particular embodiment, the user interface manager 102 displayselectronic communications 306 a with black typeface on a greybackground.

As mentioned above, the user interface manager 102 may also provide amessage input control palette 310. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the userinterface manager 102 displays the message input control palette 310 aspart of the messaging graphical user interface 302. In one or moreembodiments, the message input control palette 310 includes a variety ofselectable message input controls that provide a user with variousmessage input options or other options. For example, in FIG. 3A, themessage input control palette 310 includes a text input control 312 a, aphoto input control 312 b, a file input control 312 c, a symbol inputcontrol 312 d, and a recording input control 312 e. In one or morealternative embodiments, the message input control palette 310 mayprovide the input controls 312 a-312 e in a different order, or mayprovide other input controls not displayed in FIG. 3A.

As will be described below in greater detail, a user may interact withany of the input controls 312 a-312 e in order to add different types ofelectronic communications to the communication thread 304. For example,in one or more embodiments, if a user interacts with the text inputcontrol 312 a, the user interface manager 102 may provide a touch screendisplay keyboard in a portion of the messaging graphical user interface302 that the user may utilize to compose a textual message. Similarly,in one or more embodiments, if a user interacts with the photo inputcontrol 312 b, the user interface manager 102 may provide a digitalcamera interface within a portion of the massaging graphical userinterface 302 that the user may utilize to add a photo to thecommunication thread 304. Likewise, in one or more embodiments, if auser interacts with the file input control 312 c, the user interfacemanager 102 may provide a gallery of multimedia files (e.g., digitalphotographs, digital videos) within a portion of the messaging graphicaluser interface 302 from which a user may select a multimedia file forinclusion in the communication thread 304. Additionally, in one or moreembodiments, if a user interacts with the symbol input control 312 d,the user interface manager 102 may provide a gallery of symbols (e.g.,emoticons, stickers, icons) within a portion of the messaging graphicaluser interface 302 from which a user may select a symbol for inclusionin the communication thread 304. Also in one or more embodiments, if auser interacts with the recording input control 312 e, the userinterface manager 102 may provide a recording control by way of whichthe user can record a message for inclusion in the communication thread304.

The message input control palette 310 may also include a send element314. For example, in FIG. 3A the message input control palette 310includes the send element 314 along with the input controls 312 a-312 e.In one or more embodiments, the communication manager 106 may send anelectronic communication to one or more co-users in response to adetected user interaction with the send element 314. Likewise, the userinterface manager 102 may add the electronic communication to thecommunication thread 304 in response to the detected user interactionwith the send element 314. For instance, in a particular embodiment, theuser input detector 104 may detect a user touch gesture performed inconjunction with the send element 314. The user input detector 104 mayreport the detected touch gesture to the communication manager 106,which in turn can send an electronic message to one or more co-users viathe server. Likewise, the user input detector 104 may report thedetected touch gesture to the user interface manager 102, which in turncan add the electronic message to the communication thread 304.

The user interface manager 102 may also provide a message input element.For example, in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102 provides themessage input element 308 within the communication thread 304 of themessaging graphical user interface 302. In one or more embodiments, themessage input element 308 is a display element that may be interactedwith by a user. For instance, in one or more embodiments, the messageinput element 308 may be selectable. Additionally, as will be describedin more detail below, in one or more embodiments a user may compose amessage input 309 directly into the message input element 308.

Allowing a user to compose a message input 309 directly into the messageinput element 308 within the communication thread 304 is advantageousfor several reasons. First, it eliminates the need for the text inputbox common to most communication systems, which tends to add clutter andtake up space within a messaging graphical user interface. Also, it ismore intuitive for a user to be able to compose a message input 309directly within the communication thread 304. Specifically, utilizingthe methods and systems described herein, a user may know exactly how amessage input 309 will appear in the communication thread 304 once it issent to one or more co-users.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3A, the message input element 308displays a message input 309, “Type a message . . . ” by default. In oneor more embodiments, the message input element 308 may display anotherdefault message input 309. As used herein, a “message input” is atextual message either displayed by default within the message inputelement 308 or composed by a user within the message input element 308.In a particular embodiment, the user interface manager 102 clears themessage input 309 upon a detected user interaction with the messageinput element 308, allowing a user to compose a custom message inputwithin the message input element 308. In one or more alternativeembodiments, the message input element 308 may also include a cursor319, indicating that a user may be typing a message.

Also as shown in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102 may display themessage input element 308 such that the message input element 308 hasone or more different characteristics than the electronic communications306 a, 306 b. For example, in one or more embodiments, the userinterface manager 102 may provide the message input element 308 in adifferent shape than the electronic communications 306 a, 306 b.Alternatively, in one or more embodiments, the user interface manager102 may provide the message input element 308 with a thicker border, ina different color, or with a different background than the electroniccommunications 306 a, 306 b. In one or more embodiments, the userinterface manager 102 may also display the message input 309 in adifferent color, font, or size than the text of the electroniccommunications 306 a, 306 b. Additionally, the user interface manager102 may display the message input element 308 with or, as shown in FIG.3A, without the side-notch that is commonly associated with “messagebubbles.”

The process for composing the message input 309 within the message inputelement 308 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3A-3D. Asshown in FIG. 3A, upon initialization of the messaging graphical userinterface 302, the user interface manager 102 displays the communicationthread 304 including the electronic communications 306 a, 306 b, themessage input element 308. A user may begin composing a message byinteracting with message input element 308. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 3B, a finger 318 of a user's hand may interact with the messageinput element 308 such as via a touch gesture. In alternativeembodiments, the finger 318 may perform other types of touch gestures inorder to interact with the message input element 308, such as but notlimited to a press-and-hold touch gesture, a double-tap gesture, or anyother touch gesture suitable for this purpose. In any event, the userinput detector 104 can detect a user interaction with the message inputelement 308.

As illustrated in FIG. 3B, in response to a detected touch gesture, theuser interface manager 102 provides a touch screen display keyboard 316within a portion of the messaging graphical user interface 302. In oneor more embodiments, the user input detector 104 detects a touch gestureperformed by the finger 318 in conjunction with the message inputelement 308 displayed within the communication thread 304, and reportsthe detected touch gesture to the user interface manager 102. In aparticular embodiment, the user interface manager 102 provides the touchscreen display keyboard 316 in response to the detected touch gesture.In alternative embodiments, the user interface manager 102 may providethe touch screen display keyboard 316 in response to other types ofdetected user input, such as a spoken command or change in theorientation of the computing device 300 (i.e., from portrait tolandscape).

Once the user interface manager 102 updates the messaging graphical userinterface 302 to include the touch screen display keyboard 316, the usermay begin composing a message input. For example, as illustrated in FIG.3C, the finger 318 of the user's hand may type a message input using thetouch screen display keyboard 316. Alternatively, the user can use avoice to text option to begin entering a message.

In one or more embodiments, the user input detector 104 reports thedetected user input to the user interface manager 102. In a particularembodiment, the user interface manager 102 updates the message inputelement 308 to display each letter of the message input 309 as the userinput detector 104 detects or receives the user input. Thus, in one ormore embodiments, the user interface manager 102 can continually updatethe message input element 308 such that the message input element 308constantly resizes to accommodate each new letter of the message input309 inputted by a user. Additionally, the user interface manager 102 cancontinually update the message input element 308 such that the messageinput element 308 expands to include two or more lines of text forlonger messages.

As shown in FIG. 3C, the message input element 308 contains a partialmessage input 309. For example, the message input element 308 isapproximately as wide as the message input 309, which reads, “That'sunder”. In one or more embodiments, the user interface manager 102 mayexpand the message input element 308 as the finger 318 types anotherletter to add to the message input 309. In this way, the message inputelement 308 continually expands to accommodate the message input 309. Inalternative embodiments, the message input element 308 may have a fixedwidth that does not expand, or may expand vertically to accommodatenon-western writing formats.

The user interface manager 102 may change one or more characteristics ofthe message input element 308 in order to indicate a textual message isin the process of being composed. For example, as shown in FIG. 3C, theuser interface manager 102 displays the message input element 308 with adifferent background than displayed in FIGS. 3A-3B. In one or morealternative embodiments, the user interface manager 102 may change theborder of the message input element 308 while a user is composing atextual message within the message input element 308. In yet otheralternative embodiments, the user interface manager 102 may changeanother characteristic of the message input element 308 such as, but notlimited to, changing the color of the message input 309 displayed withinthe message input element 308, playing a sound while the message input309 is composed, or any other characteristic change suitable for thispurpose. For example, in a particular embodiment, the user interfacemanager 102 may change the typeface color, the font, or the text size ofthe message input 309 while the user is composing a textual messagewithin the message input element 308.

Once a user is finished composing the message input 309 within themessage input element 308, the UI organization system 100 can send themessage input 309 to one or more co-users. For example, as shown in FIG.3D, a user initiates sending of the message input 309 by using thefinger 318 to interact with the send element 314. In one or moreembodiments, once the user input detector 104 detects the userinteraction with the send element 314, the communication manager 106 cansend the message input 309 composed within the message input element 308(as shown in FIG. 3C) to one or more co-users. In alternativeembodiments, a user may initiate sending the message input 309 invarious ways. For example, in an alternative embodiment, a user mayinitiate sending the message input 309 by giving a voice command, bytapping a “return” key or “enter” key, by shaking or tilting thecomputing device 300, or by any other way that may be suitable forinitiating a send event.

Upon a detected tap touch gesture in conjunction with the send element314 via the finger 318, as shown in FIG. 3D, the user interface manager102 can change certain characteristics of the message input element 308in the communication thread 304 to reflect that the message input hasbeen sent as a message. For example, as shown in FIG. 3D, the messageinput 309 reads, “That's understandable”, rather than the partial,“That's under” as displayed in FIG. 3C. In one or more embodiments, theuser interface manager 102 may change the position of the message inputelement 308, the border width of the message input element 308, thebackground color of the message input element 308, the size and font ofthe message input 309 within the message input element 308, or any othercharacteristic of the message input element 308 suitable for thispurpose. For example, in FIG. 3D after the detected interaction with thesend element 314, the user interface manager 102 removes the thickborder as shown around the message input element 308 in FIG. 3C, movesthe message input element 308 closer to the electronic communication 306b within the communication thread 304, changes the background of themessage input element 308 from stippled in FIG. 3C to black, changes thetext color of the message input 309 from black in FIG. 3C to white, andadds a tail to the message input element 308 pointed in the samedirection as the electronic communication 306 a. In an alternativeembodiment, the user interface manager 102 may also update the messageinput element 308 in response to a detected interaction with the sendelement 314 such that the message input element 308 is no longerselectable and such that message input 309 is no longer available forediting.

The user interface manager 102 may change various characteristics of themessage input element 308 and the message input 309 so as to indicatethe source of the message input element 308 and the message input 309.For example, as shown in FIG. 3D, the user interface manager 102 updatesthe message input element 308 and the message input 309 to be the samecolors, orientation, and shape as the electronic communication 306 a. Asdiscussed above, the electronic communication 306 a is an electroniccommunication send by the communication manager 106. In other words, theelectronic communication 306 a is an electronic communication composedon and sent from computing the device 300 via the UI organization system100. Thus, a user can see at a glance that the last message in thecommunication thread 304 is a message sent from the computing device300.

In one or more alternative embodiments, the user interface manager 102may change various characteristics of the message input element 308 andthe message input 309 in order to indicate a single social networkingaccount. For example, a user may access a social networking account viaone or more computing devices. In one or more embodiments, the user maycompose and send a first set electronic messages in a communicationsession from a mobile phone logged onto a social networking account, andmay compose and send a second set of electronic messages in the samecommunication session from a laptop computer. In one or moreembodiments, the user interface manager 102 may display the messageinput element 308, the message input 309, and the electroniccommunication 306 a with the same display characteristics even thoughthe electronic communication 306 a may have been sent from one computingdevice and the message input element 308 and the message input 309 maybe have been sent from a different computing device.

In one or more alternative embodiments, once the user interface manager102 changes various display characteristics of the message input element308 and the message input 309 as described above, the user interfacemanager 102 may provide another message input element with a defaultmessage input (not shown in FIG. 3D) to the bottom of the communicationthread 304, as shown in FIG. 3A. For example, the user interface manager102 may provide a message input element with a default message input(i.e., “Type a message . . . ”) in order to indicate that the user maybegin composing a new message input. Also in one or more alternativeembodiments, the user interface manager 102 may provide a message inputelement with a default message input in order to indicate that thecommunication manager 106 has successfully sent the previous messageinput to one or more co-users.

The UI organization system 100 may be implemented in alternativeembodiments of systems and methods described herein. For example, FIGS.4A-4E illustrate an alternative embodiment wherein the user interfacemanager 102 adds a message input element to a communication threadsimply upon a user typing. For instance, as shown in FIG. 4A, the userinterface manager 102 displays the communication thread 304 and themessage input control palette 310 within the messaging graphical userinterface 302 displayed on the touch screen display 301 of the computingdevice 300. Unlike FIG. 3A, in the present embodiment, the userinterface manager 102 does not initially provide a message input elementin the communication thread 304.

As described above, the user interface manager 102 may provide a touchscreen display keyboard upon a detected user interaction with a messageinput control in the message input control palette 310. For example, asshown in FIG. 4B, a finger 318 of a user performs a touch gesture (i.e.,a tap touch gesture) in conjunction with the text input control 312 awithin the message input control palette 310. In one or moreembodiments, the user input detector 104 can detect the touch gestureand the user interface manager 102 can provide the touch screen displaykeyboard 316 in response to the detected touch gesture. In analternative embodiment, the user interface manager 102 may provide thetouch screen display keyboard 316 in response to other types of detectedtouch gestures. For example, in one or more alternative embodiments, theuser interface manager 102 may provide the touch screen display keyboard316 in response to a spoken command, a change in orientation of thecomputing device 300 (e.g., portrait to landscape), a swipe-up touchgesture from the bottom of the messaging graphical user interface 302,or in any other way that may be suitable for this purpose.

The message input element 308 may be selectively provided within thecommunication thread 304 as soon as a user begins typing a messageinput. For example, in FIG. 3A, the user interface manager 102 providesthe message input element 308 within the communication thread 304 beforethe user input detector 104 detects a selection of the text inputcontrol 312 a. However, in another embodiment and as shown in FIGS.4A-4D, the user interface manager 102 may selectively provide themessage input element 308 in response to detected user inputs via atouch screen display keyboard 316. In other words, the user interfacemanager 102 may selectively provide the message input element 308 inresponse to a user typing a message input. Thus, the user interfaceorganization system 100 reduces user interface clutter and helps toensure that more electronic communications 306 a, 306 b are viewable inthe communication thread 304.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4C, the user input detector 104 detectsthe finger 318 of the user typing on the touch screen display keyboard316 and the user interface manager 102 displays the message inputelement 308 in response to the detected typing. In one or moreembodiments, the user interface manager 102 immediately displays everyletter of the message input 309 within the message input element 308 asthe finger 318 types it. In this way, a user may compose the messageinput 309 directly within the communication thread 304. As shown in FIG.4C, the user has typed a partial message input 309, which reads, “That'sunder.” In one or more alternative embodiments, the user interfaceorganization system 100 may also include voice recognition capabilities.In a particular alternative embodiment, the user interface manager 102may display words of the message input 309 within the message inputelement 308 as spoken by a user.

The user interface manager 102 may display the message input element 308at various positions within the messaging graphical user interface 302in order to signify that a user is composing a message input 309 and tofurther distinguish the message input element 308 from sent and receivedelectronic communications 306 a, 306 b. For example, as shown in FIG.4C, the user interface manager 102 displays the message input element308 in the bottom-middle of the communication thread 304. In alternativeembodiments, as shown in FIG. 3C, the user interface manager 102 maydisplay the message input element 308 in the bottom-corner of thecommunication thread 304. In yet one or more alternative embodiments,the user interface manager 102 may display the message input element 308in other various locations. For example, in an alternative embodiment,the user interface manager 102 may display the message input element 308superimposed over the messaging graphical user interface 302 so as toappear like it is floating above the communication thread 304.

As described above with regard to FIGS. 3A-3D, the user interfacemanager 102 may continuously resize the message input element 308 so asto accommodate the message input 309 as a user is composing the messageinput 309. Likewise, as described above with regard to FIGS. 3A-3D, theuser interface manager 102 may provide the message input element 308with different characteristics from the electronic communications 306 a,306 b while a user composes the message input 309. For example, as shownin FIG. 4C, the user interface manager 102 displays the message inputelement 308 with a broader border characteristic and a differentbackground characteristic that those of the electronic communications306 a, 306 b. In this way, a user may easily distinguish the messageinput element 308 from the electronic communications 306 a, 306 b.

As described above with regard to FIGS. 3C-3D, the communication manager106 can send the message input 309 composed within the message inputelement 308 to one or more co-users in response to a detected userinteraction with the send element 314. Additionally or alternatively,the communication manager 106 can send the message input 309 composedwithin the message input element 308 to the communication server 208,which in turn sends the message input 309 to one or more computingdevices associated with one or more co-users. Also as described abovewith regard to FIGS. 3C-3D, the user interface manager 102 can changevarious display characteristics of the message input element 308 and themessage input 309 in response to the detected user interaction with thesend element 314. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4D, the user inputdetector 104 detects a touch gesture (i.e., a tap touch gesture)performed by the finger 318 in conjunction with the send element 314,and reports the detected touch gesture to the communication manager 106and the user interface manager 102.

In one or more embodiments, the user interface manager 102 may changethe display position of the message input element 308 in response to adetected user interaction and the message input 309 being sent as amessage. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 4C and 4D, the userinterface manager 102 provides the message input element 308 in FIG. 4Cat the bottom-middle of the communication thread 304 and then changesthe position of the message input element 308 in FIG. 4D to the side ofthe communication thread 304. Thus, the user interface manager 102provides a user with a clear indication that the message has been sent.

Also as discussed above with regard to FIGS. 3C and 3D, the userinterface manager 102 may also change other display characteristics ofthe message input element 308 and the message input 309 to indicate thatthe message input 309 has been sent as a message. For example, the userinterface manager 102 may change the color, font, or shape of themessage input element 308 and the message input 309. Further more, theuser interface manager 102 may also update the message input element 308such that it is no longer selectable or editable.

As discussed above, the user interface manager 102 may selectivelyremove display elements, which will be shown with regard to FIGS. 5A and5B. For example, in FIG. 5A, the user interface manager 102 displays themessaging graphical user interface 302 after the message, “That'sunderstandable” has been sent. Accordingly, in one or more embodiments,the user interface manager 102 may again display the message inputelement 308 with the invitation, “Type a message . . . ” within thecommunication thread 304. Thus, while the user interface manager 102displays the messaging graphical user interface 302 in this state, auser may input another message via the touch screen display keyboard316.

Alternatively, the user may want to view a maximized portion of thecommunication thread 304 rather than compose another message. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, the user interface manager 102removes the message input element 308 and the touch screen displaykeyboard 316 (as shown in FIG. 5A) in response to a detected touchgesture. In one or more embodiments, the user input detector 104 maydetect a touch gesture performed by the finger 318 of a user inconjunction with a message input control displayed in the message inputcontrol palette 310. In a particular embodiment, the user interfacemanager 102 may remove the message input element 308 and touch screendisplay keyboard 316 in response to a detected touch gesture includingthe text input control 312 a.

In one or more embodiments, the user interface manager 102 may removethe message input element 308 and the touch screen display keyboard 316in response to a detected touch gesture with another message inputcontrol that does not require text input (i.e., a recorded message). Inone or more alternative embodiments, the user interface manager 102 mayalso replace the touch screen keyboard with another message inputcontrol (e.g., with a camera viewfinder, a recording control, a fileselect gallery, etc.) in response to the detected touch gesture. Thus,the user interface manager 102 may selectively remove and replacevarious message input controls in order to maintain optimal organizationwithin the messaging graphical user interface 302.

Enabling the user interface manager 102 to selectively remove and/orreplace display elements according to detected user interactions isadvantageous for many reasons. First, the user interface manager 102allows a maximum portion of the communication thread 304 to be viewed bya user when un-used display elements, such as the message input element308 and touch screen display keyboard 316 are removed. Thus, in one ormore embodiments, when the user interface manager 102 removes un-useddisplay elements, a user may more easily discern the context of acommunication session as well as where the communication session leftoff. Additionally advantageous is that the user interface manager 102maintains optimal organization of the messaging graphical user interface302 by providing the display elements that are actually being used.

FIGS. 1-5B, the corresponding text, and the examples, provide a numberof different systems and devices for organizing a graphical userinterface of a communication system. In addition to the foregoing,embodiments can also be described in terms of flowcharts comprising actsand steps in a method for accomplishing a particular result. Forexample, FIGS. 6-7 illustrate flowcharts of exemplary methods inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The methods described inrelation to FIGS. 6-7 may be performed with less or more steps/acts orthe steps/acts may be performed in differing orders. Additionally, thesteps/acts described herein may be repeated or performed in parallelwith one another or in parallel with different instances of the same orsimilar steps/acts.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of one example method 600 of composing anelectronic communication directly in a communication thread. The method600 includes an act 602 of providing a messaging graphical userinterface. In particular, the act 602 can involve providing a messaginggraphical user interface 302 comprising a communication thread 304. Thecommunication thread can include a plurality of electronic messages 306a, 306 b exchanged between a user and one or more co-users, and amessage input element 308. In one or more embodiments, the act 602 ofproviding a message input element 308 can include providing the messageinput element 308 as a text bubble.

The method 600 further includes an act 604 of receiving a message fromthe user. In particular, the act 604 can involve receiving a messageinput from a user (e.g., “That's understandable” in FIGS. 3D and 4D).For example, the act 604 of receiving a message input 309 from the usermay include receiving the message input 309 via a touch screen displaykeyboard 316. In one or more alternative embodiments, the act 604 ofreceiving a message input 309 from the user may include receiving themessage input 309 via a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a camera, atrack pad, or via a variety of other ways, as discussed above.

In addition, the method 600 further includes an act 606 of entering themessage input into a message input element. In particular, the act 606can involve entering the message input 309 into the message inputelement 308 in the communication thread 304. For example, the act 606 ofentering the message input 309 into the message input element 308 caninclude simultaneously entering each character, word, and/or sentencetyped by a user via a touch screen display keyboard 316 into the messageinput element 308 as it is typed. In one or more embodiments, the method600 may further include providing a touch screen display keyboard 316 inresponse to a selection of the message input element 308 in thecommunication thread 304. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, themethod 600 may also include resizing the message input element 308 toaccommodate the message input 309 via the touch screen display keyboard316.

The method 600 also includes an act 608 of sending the message. Inparticular, the act 608 can involve sending the message input 309entered into the message input element 308. For example, in one or moreembodiments, the act 608 of sending the message may include sending themessage input 309 entered into the message input element 308 to one ormore co-users of the communication system.

The method 600 further includes an act 610 of changing a characteristicof the message input element to reflect sending the message. Inparticular, the act 610 can involve changing a characteristic of themessage input element 308 in the communication thread 304 to reflectsending of the message input 309 entered into the message input element308. In one or more embodiments, the act 610 of changing acharacteristic of the message input element 308 in the communicationthread 304 to reflect sending of the message input 309 entered into themessage input element 308 can involve changing one or more of a color, aposition, a size, a font, or an orientation of the message input element308. Additionally or alternatively, the act 610 of changing acharacteristic of the message input element 308 in the communicationthread 304 to reflect sending of the message input entered into themessage input element 308 can involve changing a horizontal position ofthe message input element 308 within the communication thread 304.

Additionally, the method 600 may further include changing thecharacteristic of the message input element 308 to reflect entering ofthe message input 309 into the message input element 308. For example,the method 600 including changing the characteristic of the messageinput element 308 to reflect entering of the message input 309 into themessage input element 308 may include changing a color, position, size,font, or orientation of the message input element 308 and/or the messageinput 309 while a user is utilizing the touch screen display keyboard316 to type the message input 309. More specifically, the method 600 mayinclude changing the characteristic of the message input element 308 toreflect entering of the message input 309 into the message input element308 by changing the message input element 308 from a first color to asecond color. Additionally, the method 600 may also include changing thecharacteristic of the message input element 308 in the communicationthread 304 to reflect sending of the message input 309 entered into themessage input element 308 by changing the message input element 308 fromthe second color to a third color.

The method 600 may further include the step of detecting a selection ofa message input control 312 a-312 e from a palette 310 of one or moremessage input controls. The method 600 can then include, in response tothe selection of the message input control, removing the message inputelement 308 from the communication thread 304. For example, the method600 can include detecting a selection of a message input control that isnot indicative of a textual message input (i.e., not the text inputcontrol 312 a), and removing the message input element 308 from thecommunication thread 304. In one or more embodiments, the method 600 ofdetecting a selection of a message input control can include detecting aphoto input control 312 b, a file input control 312 c, a symbol inputcontrol 312 d, or a recording input control 312 e.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method 700 of composing anelectronic communication directly in a communication thread. The method700 includes an act 702 of providing a messaging graphical userinterface. In particular, the act 702 can involve providing a messaginggraphical user interface 302 comprising a communication thread 304. Thecommunication thread 304 can include a plurality of electronic message306 a, 306 b exchanged between a user and one or more co-users. Themessaging graphical user interface 302 further comprises a message inputcontrol area including a palette 310 of the one or more message inputcontrols 312 a-312 e.

The method 700 further includes an act 704 of detecting a selection of amessage input control. In particular, the act 704 can involve detectinga selection of a first message input control 312 a from a palette 310 ofone or more message input controls 312 a-312 e. In one or moreembodiments, the method 700 can further include providing a touch screendisplay keyboard 316 in the messaging graphical user interface 302 inresponse to the selection of the first message input control 312 a. Forexample, in one or more embodiments, the act 704 of detecting aselection of a first message input control may involve detecting aselection of the text input control 312 a.

Additionally, the method 700 further includes an act 706 of providing amessage input element in the communication thread. In particular, theact 706 can involve providing a message input element 308 in thecommunication thread 304 in response to the selection of the firstmessage input control 312 a. In one or more embodiments, the act 706 ofproviding a message input element 308 in the communication thread 304can include providing a text bubble in the communication thread 304 andproviding a cursor 319 in the text bubble.

The method 700 further includes an act 708 of receiving a message. Inparticular, the act 708 can involve receiving a message input 309. Forexample, the act 708 can include receiving a message input 309 typed bya user via the touch screen display keyboard 316. In one or morealternative embodiments, the act 708 can include receiving a messageinput 309 via a sound input, via a file selection, or via a camerainput.

The method 700 further includes an act 710 of entering the message intothe message input element. In particular, the act 710 can involveentering the message input 309 into the message input element 308 in thecommunication thread 304. For example, the act 708 can include enteringa message input 309 into the message input element 308 as a user typesthe message via the touch screen display keyboard 316.

The method 700 may further include detecting a selection of a secondmessaging input control. In response to the selection of the secondmessaging input control, the method 700 may also include removing themessage input element 308 from the communication thread 304, andremoving the touch screen display keyboard 318 from the messaginggraphical user interface 302. In one or more embodiments, the step ofdetecting a selection of a second messaging input can include detectinga selection of one or more of a photo input control 312 b, a file inputcontrol 312 c, a symbol input control 312 d, or a recording inputcontrol 312 e. Furthermore, the step of removing the message inputelement 308 form the communication thread 304 may involve removing atext bubble from the communication thread 304.

The method 700 may also further include sending the message input 309entered into the message input element 308, and changing acharacteristic of the message input element 308 in the communicationthread 304 to reflect sending of the message input 309 entered into themessage input element 308. In one or more embodiments, the step ofchanging a characteristic of the message input element 308 to reflectsending of the message input 309 entered into the message input element308 can include changing one or more of a color, a position, a size, afont, or an orientation of the message input element 308. Additionally,in one or more embodiments, the step of sending the message input 309entered into the message input element 308 may include sending themessage input 309 to one or more co-users of the communication system.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise or utilize a specialpurpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, suchas, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussedin greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the presentdisclosure also include physical and other computer-readable media forcarrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or datastructures. In particular, one or more of the processes described hereinmay be implemented at least in part as instructions embodied in anon-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or morecomputing devices (e.g., any of the media content access devicesdescribed herein). In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor)receives instructions, from a non-transitory computer-readable medium,(e.g., a memory, etc.), and executes those instructions, therebyperforming one or more processes, including one or more of the processesdescribed herein.

Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a general purpose or special purpose computer system.Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions arenon-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices).Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions aretransmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation,embodiments of the disclosure can comprise at least two distinctlydifferent kinds of computer-readable media: non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media (devices) and transmission media.

Non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) includes RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, solid state drives (“SSDs”) (e.g., based on RAM),Flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), other types of memory, otheroptical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storagedevices, or any other medium which can be used to store desired programcode means in the form of computer-executable instructions or datastructures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or specialpurpose computer.

A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable thetransport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modulesand/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmissionmedium. Transmissions media can include a network and/or data linkswhich can be used to carry desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Combinationsof the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structurescan be transferred automatically from transmission media tonon-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) (or viceversa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structuresreceived over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within anetwork interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventuallytransferred to computer system RAM and/or to less volatile computerstorage media (devices) at a computer system. Thus, it should beunderstood that non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices)can be included in computer system components that also (or evenprimarily) utilize transmission media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing deviceto perform a certain function or group of functions. In someembodiments, computer-executable instructions are executed on a generalpurpose computer to turn the general purpose computer into a specialpurpose computer implementing elements of the disclosure. The computerexecutable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediateformat instructions such as assembly language, or even source code.Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the described features or acts described above.Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example formsof implementing the claims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computersystem configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers,laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones,PDAs, tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and the like. The disclosuremay also be practiced in distributed system environments where local andremote computer systems, which are linked (either by hardwired datalinks, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired andwireless data links) through a network, both perform tasks. In adistributed system environment, program modules may be located in bothlocal and remote memory storage devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be implemented in cloudcomputing environments. In this description, “cloud computing” isdefined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a sharedpool of configurable computing resources. For example, cloud computingcan be employed in the marketplace to offer ubiquitous and convenienton-demand access to the shared pool of configurable computing resources.The shared pool of configurable computing resources can be rapidlyprovisioned via virtualization and released with low management effortor service provider interaction, and then scaled accordingly.

A cloud-computing model can be composed of various characteristics suchas, for example, on-demand self-service, broad network access, resourcepooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, and so forth. Acloud-computing model can also expose various service models, such as,for example, Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service(“PaaS”), and Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”). A cloud-computingmodel can also be deployed using different deployment models such asprivate cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, and soforth. In this description and in the claims, a “cloud-computingenvironment” is an environment in which cloud computing is employed.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of exemplary computing device 800that may be configured to perform one or more of the processes describedabove. One will appreciate that the UI organization system 100 may beimplemented by one or more computing devices such as the computingdevice 800. For example, any of computing devices 202, 204, as shown inFIG. 2, and computing device 300, as shown in FIGS. 3A-5B may be acomputing device 800. As shown by FIG. 8, the computing device 800 cancomprise a processor 802, a memory 804, a storage device 806, an I/Ointerface 808, and a communication interface 810, which may becommunicatively coupled by way of a communication infrastructure 812.While an exemplary computing device 800 is shown in FIG. 8, thecomponents illustrated in FIG. 8 are not intended to be limiting.Additional or alternative components may be used in other embodiments.Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the computing device 800 caninclude fewer components than those shown in FIG. 8. Components of thecomputing device 800 shown in FIG. 8 will now be described in additionaldetail.

In particular embodiments, the processor 802 includes hardware forexecuting instructions, such as those making up a computer program. Asan example and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, theprocessor 802 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internalregister, an internal cache, the memory 804, or the storage device 806and decode and execute them. In particular embodiments, the processor802 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. As an example and not by way of limitation, the processor 802may include one or more instruction caches, one or more data caches, andone or more translation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in theinstruction caches may be copies of instructions in the memory 804 orthe storage 806.

The memory 804 may be used for storing data, metadata, and programs forexecution by the processor(s). The memory 804 may include one or more ofvolatile and non-volatile memories, such as Random Access Memory(“RAM”), Read Only Memory (“ROM”), a solid state disk (“SSD”), Flash,Phase Change Memory (“PCM”), or other types of data storage. The memory804 may be internal or distributed memory.

The storage device 806 includes storage for storing data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage device806 can comprise a non-transitory storage medium described above. Thestorage device 806 may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy diskdrive, flash memory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetictape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two ormore of these. The storage device 806 may include removable ornon-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. The storage device806 may be internal or external to the computing device 800. Inparticular embodiments, the storage device 806 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. In other embodiments, the storage device 806includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may be maskprogrammed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these.

The I/O interface 808 allows a user to provide input to, receive outputfrom, and otherwise transfer data to and receive data from computingdevice 800. The I/O interface 808 may include a mouse, a keypad or akeyboard, a touch screen, a camera, an optical scanner, networkinterface, modem, other known I/O devices or a combination of such I/Ointerfaces. The I/O interface 808 may include one or more devices forpresenting output to a user, including, but not limited to, a graphicsengine, a display (e.g., a display screen), one or more output drivers(e.g., display drivers), one or more audio speakers, and one or moreaudio drivers. In certain embodiments, the I/O interface 808 isconfigured to provide graphical data to a display for presentation to auser. The graphical data may be representative of one or more graphicaluser interfaces and/or any other graphical content as may serve aparticular implementation.

The communication interface 810 can include hardware, software, or both.In any event, the communication interface 810 can provide one or moreinterfaces for communication (such as, for example, packet-basedcommunication) between the computing device 800 and one or more othercomputing devices or networks. As an example and not by way oflimitation, the communication interface 810 may include a networkinterface controller (NIC) or network adapter for communicating with anEthernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) orwireless adapter for communicating with a wireless network, such as aWI-FI.

Additionally or alternatively, the communication interface 810 mayfacilitate communications with an ad hoc network, a personal areanetwork (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internetor a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one ormore of these networks may be wired or wireless. As an example, thecommunication interface 810 may facilitate communications with awireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FInetwork, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, forexample, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), orother suitable wireless network or a combination thereof.

Additionally, the communication interface 810 may facilitatecommunications various communication protocols. Examples ofcommunication protocols that may be used include, but are not limitedto, data transmission media, communications devices, TransmissionControl Protocol (“TCP”), Internet Protocol (“IP”), File TransferProtocol (“FTP”), Telnet, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”),Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (“HTTPS”), Session InitiationProtocol (“SIP”), Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”), ExtensibleMark-up Language (“XML”) and variations thereof, Simple Mail TransferProtocol (“SMTP”), Real-Time Transport Protocol (“RTP”), User DatagramProtocol (“UDP”), Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”)technologies, Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) technologies, TimeDivision Multiple Access (“TDMA”) technologies, Short Message Service(“SMS”), Multimedia Message Service (“MMS”), radio frequency (“RF”)signaling technologies, Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) technologies,wireless communication technologies, in-band and out-of-band signalingtechnologies, and other suitable communications networks andtechnologies.

The communication infrastructure 812 may include hardware, software, orboth that couples components of the computing device 800 to each other.As an example and not by way of limitation, the communicationinfrastructure 812 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) orother graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, anIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, alow-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express(PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a VideoElectronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, or another suitablebus or a combination thereof.

As mentioned above, the network 206 and/or communication server 208 cancomprise a social-networking system. A social-networking system mayenable its users (such as persons or organizations) to interact with thesystem and with each other. The social-networking system may, with inputfrom a user, create and store in the social-networking system a userprofile associated with the user. The user profile may includedemographic information, communication-channel information, andinformation on personal interests of the user. The social-networkingsystem may also, with input from a user, create and store a record ofrelationships of the user with other users of the social-networkingsystem, as well as provide services (e.g. wall posts, photo-sharing,event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements) to facilitatesocial interaction between or among users.

The social-networking system may store records of users andrelationships between users in a social graph comprising a plurality ofnodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes. The nodes maycomprise a plurality of user nodes and a plurality of concept nodes. Auser node of the social graph may correspond to a user of thesocial-networking system. A user may be an individual (human user), anentity (e.g., an enterprise, business, or third party application), or agroup (e.g., of individuals or entities). A user node corresponding to auser may comprise information provided by the user and informationgathered by various systems, including the social-networking system.

For example, the user may provide his or her name, profile picture, cityof residence, contact information, birth date, gender, marital status,family status, employment, educational background, preferences,interests, and other demographic information to be included in the usernode. Each user node of the social graph may have a corresponding webpage (typically known as a profile page). In response to a requestincluding a user name, the social-networking system can access a usernode corresponding to the user name, and construct a profile pageincluding the name, a profile picture, and other information associatedwith the user. A profile page of a first user may display to a seconduser all or a portion of the first user's information based on one ormore privacy settings by the first user and the relationship between thefirst user and the second user.

A concept node may correspond to a concept of the social-networkingsystem. For example, a concept can represent a real-world entity, suchas a movie, a song, a sports team, a celebrity, a group, a restaurant,or a place or a location. An administrative user of a concept nodecorresponding to a concept may create or update the concept node byproviding information of the concept (e.g., by filling out an onlineform), causing the social-networking system to associate the informationwith the concept node. For example and without limitation, informationassociated with a concept can include a name or a title, one or moreimages (e.g., an image of cover page of a book), a web site (e.g., anURL address) or contact information (e.g., a phone number, an emailaddress). Each concept node of the social graph may correspond to a webpage. For example, in response to a request including a name, thesocial-networking system can access a concept node corresponding to thename, and construct a web page including the name and other informationassociated with the concept.

An edge between a pair of nodes may represent a relationship between thepair of nodes. For example, an edge between two user nodes can representa friendship between two users. For another example, thesocial-networking system may construct a web page (or a structureddocument) of a concept node (e.g., a restaurant, a celebrity),incorporating one or more selectable buttons (e.g., “like”, “check in”)in the web page. A user can access the page using a web browser hostedby the user's client device and select a selectable button, causing theclient device to transmit to the social-networking system a request tocreate an edge between a user node of the user and a concept node of theconcept, indicating a relationship between the user and the concept(e.g., the user checks in a restaurant, or the user “likes” acelebrity).

As an example, a user may provide (or change) his or her city ofresidence, causing the social-networking system to create an edgebetween a user node corresponding to the user and a concept nodecorresponding to the city declared by the user as his or her city ofresidence. In addition, the degree of separation between any two nodesis defined as the minimum number of hops required to traverse the socialgraph from one node to the other. A degree of separation between twonodes can be considered a measure of relatedness between the users orthe concepts represented by the two nodes in the social graph. Forexample, two users having user nodes that are directly connected by anedge (i.e., are first-degree nodes) may be described as “connectedusers” or “friends.” Similarly, two users having user nodes that areconnected only through another user node (i.e., are second-degree nodes)may be described as “friends of friends.”

A social-networking system may support a variety of applications, suchas photo sharing, on-line calendars and events, gaming, instantmessaging, and advertising. For example, the social-networking systemmay also include media sharing capabilities. Also, the social-networkingsystem may allow users to post photographs and other multimedia files toa user's profile page (typically known as “wall posts” or “timelineposts”) or in a photo album, both of which may be accessible to otherusers of the social-networking system depending upon the user'sconfigured privacy settings. The social-networking system may also allowusers to configure events. For example, a first user may configure anevent with attributes including time and date of the event, location ofthe event and other users invited to the event. The invited users mayreceive invitations to the event and respond (such as by accepting theinvitation or declining it). Furthermore, the social-networking systemmay allow users to maintain a personal calendar. Similarly to events,the calendar entries may include times, dates, locations and identitiesof other users.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example network environment of a social-networkingsystem. In particular embodiments, a social-networking system 902 maycomprise one or more data stores. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking system 902 may store a social graph comprising usernodes, concept nodes, and edges between nodes as described earlier. Eachuser node may comprise one or more data objects corresponding toinformation associated with or describing a user. Each concept node maycomprise one or more data objects corresponding to informationassociated with a concept. Each edge between a pair of nodes maycomprise one or more data objects corresponding to informationassociated with a relationship between users (or between a user and aconcept, or between concepts) corresponding to the pair of nodes.

In particular embodiments, the social-networking system 902 may compriseone or more computing devices (e.g., servers) hosting functionalitydirected to operation of the social-networking system. A user of thesocial-networking system 902 may access the social-networking system 902using a client device such as client device 906. In particularembodiments, the client device 906 can interact with thesocial-networking system 902 through a network 904.

The client device 906 may be a desktop computer, laptop computer, tabletcomputer, personal digital assistant (PDA), in- or out-of-car navigationsystem, smart phone or other cellular or mobile phone, or mobile gamingdevice, other mobile device, or other suitable computing devices. Clientdevice 906 may execute one or more client applications, such as a webbrowser (e.g., Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox,Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, etc.) or a native or special-purposeclient application (e.g., Facebook for iPhone or iPad, Facebook forAndroid, etc.), to access and view content over a network 904.

Network 904 may represent a network or collection of networks (such asthe Internet, a corporate intranet, a virtual private network (VPN), alocal area network (LAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), acellular network, a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), or a combination of two or more such networks) over which clientdevices 806 may access the social-networking system 902.

While these methods, systems, and user interfaces utilize both publiclyavailable information as well as information provided by users of thesocial-networking system, all use of such information is to beexplicitly subject to all privacy settings of the involved users and theprivacy policy of the social-networking system as a whole.

Various embodiments and aspects above are described with reference todetails discussed herein, and the accompanying drawings illustrate thevarious embodiments. The description above and drawings are illustrativeof the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.Numerous specific details are described to provide a thoroughunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: at least one processor; andat least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the system to: provide a messaging graphical user interfacecomprising a communication thread comprising a plurality of electronicmessages exchanged between a user and one or more co-users, and amessage input control area; and detect a selection of a first messageinput control from the message input control area; in response to theselection of the first message input control, provide a touch screendisplay keyboard; receive a message input for a message via the touchscreen display keyboard; in response to and while receiving the messageinput, provide a message input element positioned within thecommunication thread; and enter, by at least one processor and whilereceiving the message input, the message into the message input elementin the communication thread.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1,further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the system to resize, while receiving the messageinput, the message input element to accommodate an increasing size ofthe message.
 3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the messageinput element comprises a text bubble.
 4. The system as recited in claim1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at leastone processor, cause the system to change a characteristic of themessage input element to reflect sending of the message entered into themessage input element, wherein changing a characteristic of the messageinput element comprises changing one or more of a color, a position, asize, a font, or an orientation of the message input element.
 5. Thesystem as recited in claim 4, further comprising instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, cause the system to change thecharacteristic of the message input element to reflect entering of themessage into the message input element.
 6. The system as recited inclaim 5, wherein: changing the characteristic of the message inputelement to reflect entering of the message into the message inputelement comprises changing the message input element from a first colorto a second color; and changing the characteristic of the message inputelement in the communication thread to reflect sending of the messageentered into the message input element comprises changing the messageinput element from the second color to a third color.
 7. The system asrecited in claim 4, wherein changing the characteristic of the messageinput element further comprises converting the message input element toa message within the communication thread.
 8. The system as recited inclaim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the atleast one processor, cause the system to remove the touch screen displaykeyboard in response to a selection of a second message input controlfrom the message input control area.
 9. The system as recited in claim1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at leastone processor, cause the system to: detect, prior to sending the messageentered into the message input element, a selection of a first secondmessage input control from the message input control area; in responseto the selection of the second message input control, remove the messageinput element from the communication thread.
 10. The system as recitedin claim 9, wherein the second message input control comprises one ormore of a photo input control, a file input control, a symbol inputcontrol, or a recording input control.
 11. A method comprising:providing a messaging graphical user interface comprising: acommunication thread comprising a plurality of electronic messagesexchanged between a user and one or more co-users; and a message inputcontrol area comprising a palette of one or more message input controls;detecting a selection of a first message input control from the paletteof one or more message input controls; in response to the selection ofthe first message input control, providing a touch screen displaykeyboard; receiving, via the touch screen display keyboard, a messageinput for a message from the user; providing, in response to and whilereceiving the message input, a message input element in thecommunication thread; and entering, by at least one processor and whilereceiving the message input, the message into the message input elementin the communication thread.
 12. The method as recited in claim 11,further comprising removing the touch screen display keyboard from themessaging graphical user interface and the message input element fromthe communication thread in response to the selection of a secondmessage input control.
 13. The method as recited in claim 12, furthercomprising: detecting, after removing the touch screen keyboard and themessage input element, a selection of the first messaging input control;and in response to the selection of the first messaging input control:providing the message input element from the communication threadcontaining the message, and providing the touch screen display keyboardwithin the messaging graphical user interface.
 14. The method as recitedin claim 13, wherein the second message input control comprises one ormore of a photo input control, a file input control, a symbol inputcontrol, or a recording input control.
 15. The method as recited inclaim 12, wherein the message input element comprises a text bubble. 16.The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising: sending themessage entered into the message input element; and changing acharacteristic of the message input element in the communication threadto reflect sending of the message entered into the message inputelement.
 17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein changing acharacteristic of the message input element to reflect sending of themessage entered into the message input element comprises converting themessage input element to a message the message within the communicationthread.
 18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium havingstored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor, cause a computer system to: provide a messaging graphicaluser interface comprising a communication thread comprising a pluralityof electronic messages exchanged between a user and one or moreco-users, and a message input control area; detect a selection of afirst message input control from the message input control area; inresponse to the selection of the first message input control, provide atouch screen display keyboard; receive a message input for a message viathe touch screen display keyboard; in response to and while receivingthe message input, provide a message input element positioned within thecommunication thread; and enter, while receiving the message input, themessage into the message input element in the communication thread. 19.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim18, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the computer system to: resize, whilereceiving the message input, the message input element to accommodate anincreasing size of the message; send the message entered into themessage input element; and change, in response to sending the message, acharacteristic of the message input element to add the message to thecommunication thread.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium as recited in claim 19, further comprising computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computersystem to: change the characteristic of the message input element bychanging the messaging input element from a first color to a secondcolor.